Members of the 2024 cohort for UMSL’s Online MBA program pose for a photo during a trip to Costa Rica that was part of a group project for their capstone course. Graduates of the Online MBA program credit the UMSL staff and faculty for its success. (Photo courtesy of Sierra Phipps)
University of Missouri–St. Louis graduate Melanie Dillon has no problem understanding why the Online MBA program in the Ed G. Smith College of Business is held in such high regard.
In its annual ranking of top online colleges released in January, U.S. News & World Report listed UMSL’s Online MBA as No. 33 nationally – and No. 1 in the state of Missouri – out of nearly 400 online MBA programs across the country.
But Dillon didn’t need to see those rankings. The quality of the degree she earned in December 2024 became particularly apparent only a few months after graduation when she was hired by Siemens as a commercial project manager overseeing multi-million-dollar projects involving smart buildings.
“The MBA from UMSL definitely helped me get my foot in the door,” said Dillon, who also holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from UMSL earned in May 2022. “I got this job three months post-graduation, so yeah, I’d say the degree played a huge role.”
But it’s more than just the professional boost that graduates love about the online format from UMSL. Flexible, affordable, personally enriching – UMSL checks a lot of boxes for its MBA students.
“I could shout from the rooftops how much I love the program,” Dillon said.
UMSL made the switch from its Professional MBA program to the fully online model beginning with the fall semester of 2021. Ekin Pellegrini, the associate dean for graduate business programs in UMSL’s College of Business, said the change was important in allowing UMSL to expand its reach nationally and maximize flexibility for working professionals while maintaining the strong sense of community that has defined the MBA experience.
Pellegrini touted Francesca Ferrari, director for graduate business programs, and Sierra Phipps, the Online MBA program manager, as “the operational backbone,” praising their behind-the-scenes coordination for helping ensure students stay supported, engaged and connected from enrollment through graduation. Pellegrini said that this consistent approach has continued to elevate the overall experience and outcomes.
Cindy Goodwin-Sak, a graduate of UMSL’s PMBA program who is now one of the professors teaching Online MBA students, credited the dedication of faculty and administrators for the program’s continued growth, giving particularly high praise to Phipps as “one of the big reasons that the program is so successful.”
“She’s just constantly got her eye on the program, making sure it goes well for the students,” said Goodwin-Sak, who also graduated from UMSL’s DBA program in 2022.
Dillon was very thankful that the Online MBA program allowed her to succeed while working 40 hours a week and caring for her growing family. Dillon’s son Jack was less than a year old when she began her studies in August 2023, and daughter Sadie was born in January 2024. However, Dillon said the flexibility of the format and the accessibility of the faculty made it a relatively easy fit into her daily routine.
Eric Campos, who was a member of the same cohort as Dillon, also cited the flexibility of UMSL’s Online MBA program as a big drawing card for him. A May 2017 graduate of Louisiana State University, Campos had a full-time job as a safety management systems integrator at Boeing with two young children at home when he began taking classes, and his wife had a third child while he was enrolled. Fortunately, the program gave Campos the freedom to determine his own schedule to work through assignments, and he also welcomed the understanding of professors for allowing him to find a balance that worked for him.
“Trying to manage working full time, raising a family and going back to school, you’re going to have those hiccups that just kind of happen, and it’s super valuable to have professors who are so flexible and can help you work through different things,” said Campos, who shortly after graduating became an engineering manager at Boeing.
Affordability also plays a significant role in making UMSL’s Online MBA program such an attractive option. In fact, Blake Woods, a 2018 Oklahoma State graduate who was in the program from August 2022 to December 2023, admitted that he was initially skeptical of how good the Online MBA could actually be, given the price point compared to other options. But Woods said those concerns were alleviated right from the start, with conversations initiated by Phipps during the admission process.
“It’s incredible that UMSL has such a high-quality staff, and that the university itself is so good, given its value relative to other institutions,” Woods said. “I mean, for the business college in particular, I can say without question that I wouldn’t have wanted to go anywhere else.”
Especially once the classes themselves began and the students were able to benefit from the expertise of faculty members such as Pellegrini, Goodwin-Sak, Marcia Countryman, Jill Bernard Bracy and Gaiyan Zhang.
“Every professor was just wonderful, and they all care so much about your success,” Dillon said. “No matter what might be going on, or what challenges you might be facing, their response is always, ‘What do you need? How can I support you?’”
Pellegrini said UMSL’s Online MBA faculty are chosen not only for their expertise in their fields but for their ability to translate that knowledge into an engaging online experience. The program blends research-driven instructors who bring academic depth with seasoned industry professionals who connect lessons to current business challenges, giving students both the “why” and the “how” behind what they’re learning. That approach is reinforced by the university’s Center for Teaching and Learning, which Pellegrini called “one of the greatest assets we have on our campus,” allowing instructional designers to partner with faculty in building courses that are relevant, interactive and aligned with industry needs.
“CTL is so huge to the success of the program because of all they do in making sure that our online courses are great,” Bernard Bracy said. “They provide so much help and so many resources to help with engagement and accessibility and to make sure that the classes are all that they can be.”
Woods said he was impressed with the hands-on, real-world application of what he learned in the program. Perhaps more so, Woods said he was amazed by how the professors were able to make the courses very personal and tailor the overall experience to maximize the benefit for each student.
“UMSL did a really great job of understanding where you’re at in your career, and trying to make the projects and the topics somehow relate to how you can implement this in your job today, in five years, in 15 years,” Woods said. “It’s not just, ‘Here’s this application, good luck doing something with it.’ It’s about helping you find things that you can use specifically in your career, because they take the time to get to know you and actually kind of mold it to whatever you have going on with your life. That’s a big part of why the UMSL professors are some of the best around.”
